Running Mission-Critical Workloads: Enterprise Linux* x86 Servers

Running Mission-Critical Workloads: Enterprise Linux* x86 Servers

Executive SummaryMission-critical workloads are solutions that propel a business forward. They support the business in every dimension—its organization, its employees, and its customers. They are the most demanding types of applications and databases running on servers today and include ERP, CRM, data warehouses, business intelligence, and analytics—and more. They must be available on a 24 x 7 x 365 basis given the global scope of business today and the reality that end users will be accessing those systems at any time, from any time zone.

Given the importance of mission-critical workloads, downtime is not an option: any outage of the mission-critical server infrastructure is usually seen in terms of reduced revenue, reduced profitability, reduced employee productivity, and, when business applications go offline, reduced customer loyalty and potential customer loss. Any interruption in the operation or availability of these workloads will have a ripple effect throughout the organization because downtime interferes with business processes and interrupts business continuity. That means that mission-critical workloads, whether they are applications or databases, must run on highly reliable and available platforms to ensure that business processes are running smoothly.